Thursday, May 17, 2007

Maybank, I HEART YOU!

I have to admit, when the whole Maybank racism issue was a hot topic, I was oblivious to it. I did not read the newspapers that whole week, so I had no reaction to it. Then I finally had a whiff of it, and boy am I surprised at the extent of the racism displayed by our very own homegrown bank.
(And they wonder why we choose foreign banks over them)

Firstly, many people, lawyers to be exact were not surprised. According to those in the industry, this practice has been going on for years. It is just "unfortunate" that Maybank was foolish enough to put it on paper and make it public knowledge. Of course it caused an outrage (not to those it will benefit of course) and after being pressured to retract this "un-majmuk" policy, Maybank quickly retraced their steps and said that they will not be sticking to that policy.

Yeah, right.

In the first place, why is there such a need for such a policy? There is the NEP already isnt there? And also the quota in Universities? MARA? Interest Free Islamic Banking(albeit open to Non-Bumis)? Bumi Reserved Land? Bumi Discount? What more is needed before there is a clear message to us Non-Bumis that its ALL about the Bumis? What type of uber racist country are we beginning to morph into?

So, the next would be Elite Schools for Bumis? Bumi only University whereby it is fully sponsored to churn out so called "First Class" Bumis? Bumi Banks where they can borrow money and never return it? Come on, enough already.

Us Non-Bumis have not been making a fuss about it because we still firmly believe (however naively) that there is such a thing in Malaysia, as equal opportunity. We hadnt as much as squeaked when all these NEP policies and Islam Hadhari was introduced(more like forced upon) to us when Takaful issues a statement saying that its Haram to wish Our fellow Malaysians Happy Deepavali, then this Maybank issue rolls right along. (Dont get me started on Kelantan)

And what does the PM have to say about this?Nothing much really. Nothing to ask them to stop. Nothing to say, "hey Maybank, you're promoting segregation and racism. You should stop."
Instead he is livid that MU is not coming to Malaysia! Like who cares about racism and the peacefulness and happiness of all races in the country? MU is not coming!THE HORROR! THE PAIN!

So we ask ourselves, why are we still living in Malaysia? What does the future hold for us?

1 comment:

harrylee said...

well, being a man utd fan ... i must say that bringing man utd to malaysia is one of the things our PM did this year that i support ... :P